Was suicidal overconfidence a recruiting requirement for mercenaries, or was it merely the unpleasant ones? It should have been [i]easy[/i] to tell who they were and realise that backing off was the right idea. Yes, yes, they brought some nasty little spirits along, but their physical bodies weren't that impervious to harm. The Boars didn't have anywhere [i]near[/i] the numerical superiority to consider taking this fight. Even if Tyaethe [i]hadn't[/i] been there, she had enough confidence in the rest.

And the best way to stop them from getting to the girl--one who would have to reminded of the importance of [i]not trying to recover ancient evils without telling the people who need to guard it[/i]--was obviously to attack. Or, the best way she could contribute. Break any attempt at a cohesive line, force them to fight the paladin in their midst...

Being armoured in plate was a bit of an impediment to her, but hardly a lasting one. Tyaethe was a dragonslayer, and a hunter of any lesser beast beside--some mercenaries with bits of metal bolted to them were hardly going to slow her down for long.

Most would attribute it to vampiric strength. After all, she could heave around stone statues several times her size without any difficulty from its weight, only the teensy problem of how to hold the thing and having short, twiggy arms. Surely, someone with enough brute force to move statuary and toss grown men around like sacks of flour would have no difficulty dealing with armoured opponents? But if that was it, then most of the damage would be through smashing and bludgeoning, using overwhelming force to pound her unfortunate enemies into submission. Her blade was no sharper than any other, for all that it wouldn't dull; it was still ultimately a tool for cutting flesh and muscle, not a butcher's cleaver or a glorified pickaxe. 

Anyone that knew enough about bladework to get that far would attribute it to some sort of technique, then. If you learned and studied enough, corrected every slight error in your form, then you too could achieve the physical mastery necessary to single out a weak point in the armour and cut through it with ease. The paladin was certain that this was a component of how Lilette dealt with her enemies so effortlessly, but it was only a part of the whole. Tyaethe wasn't singling out weakpoints, or using some form perfected to the point that it alone was instrumental in cutting through steel.

Confidence. It was absolute confidence in your ability that she felt was key, and it didn't matter what path you took to get there. You could constantly strive for improvement and identifying flaws until you were sure that it should work, could work, and then reinforce it through further successes until you forgot why you ever doubted its possibility in the first place. If you were egotistical enough in the first place, had the ability to keep up with anybody that challenged you long enough to swing such a foolish attack, it might even come as naturally as breathing. For herself, there might be a ring of truth in the idea of her strength being a factor--as a young woman, Tyaethe had cut her teeth on slaying monsters, challenging them blow for blow. If she could cut through mighty boars and enraged wyverns, why should a man's armour be any different?

The counter to that was an accusation that this was the mage in her speaking, that she actually used mana to do the same. As if she was the only one to pull this off, or who had ever considered it. Sescille could have done it all the same, and she was forever swapping weapons, with nothing more magical than her perfectly-maintained figure to say. Adeforth and Lilianna didn't even have the benefit of being legendary figures to the current generation, and the pair of them were scarcely slowed by armour, with only a token regard for choosing a good target. If magic was at play, it was the weakest, lowest expression; the universal magic that came from being alive, from having a soul, from being a person. With enough confidence, enough skill to erase your self-doubt, then the world would give just a little.

Just enough to cut some hapless fool in two, confident that his armour was enough.

If you wanted that protection, get something magical. Get something that pushed back against the world and reinforced itself. Or stick to playing with people who fought by the same rules as you did.

It was a lesson that the Boars were learning right now, part of their charge interrupted and with one now ex-member rather blatantly sliced in two. Although, to give the slavers some credit, at least they had responded with enough discipline to attack Tyaethe rather than panicking... for all the good it was going to do. At most, their own efforts were just buying time by making it difficult to follow-up with another swing. Maybe they'd get a few injuries in? 

On the plus side, this [i]did[/i] give a venue to vent some of the frustration around this entire scenario. That was neat.